


The Recruit

by chelseagirl



Category: Agent Carter (TV), The Bletchley Circle
Genre: F/F, Misses Clause Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-15
Updated: 2017-12-15
Packaged: 2019-02-14 23:39:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13018638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chelseagirl/pseuds/chelseagirl
Summary: Millie is having a hard time making a go of things, with her security clearance still not restored, but a call from Jean may just change everything.





	The Recruit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bookgazing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookgazing/gifts).



> Now that author reveals are out, I can admit that this turned into a sequel of sorts to "Wartime Interlude," which I wrote for Yuletide two years ago. http://archiveofourown.org/works/5448095
> 
> Not exactly, because Agent Carter 2.04, "Smoke & Mirrors" hadn't aired yet, when I wrote the earlier story. But close enough.

Millie closed the door to her flat, and sighed deeply. She was relieved to be away from the world for a moment.

The events of the past week had hit hard; not only the stupid risks she’d been taking, not only Jasper’s death, but realizing the danger that so many women were in every day. 

She was so very fortunate to have the friends she had. Reconnecting with the Bletchley women was the greatest gift she’d had in a very long time. And meeting Alice, Alice who had been so very brave, and stoic, and devoted to the daughter she had never even known. Alice was a marvel and a wonder. Millie wondered why Alice had stayed single all those years, after her romance with John Richards had ended so abruptly. And if she was being entirely honest, Millie wondered whether Alice might ever fancy a woman. Specifically, herself.

The phone was ringing, she slowly realized. She picked it up. “Yes, Jean. Yes, I certainly can. This evening at half-six, absolutely.”

She’d brought up the post. Circular, bill, another bill. Here it was. Her hands trembled slightly, as she tore the envelope open. _. . . we regret to inform you that at this time we cannot reinstate your security clearance._

Millie felt faint, and sat down carefully on the couch. No security clearance, no translation work. She could look for private work, maybe contact some publishers, but essentially, she was running out of both options and savings. And returning to the black market was clearly not an option.

Alice, she knew, had resorted to an alias to find work. And there was always a chance that Alice Lancaster could be unmasked as the acquitted but still scandalous accused murderess Alice Merren. At least she’d chosen her daughter Lizzie’s surname, so somehow it might be made to work. 

All Millie could hope was that whatever it was that Jean was calling about might be an opportunity. _I need a drink_ , she thought, and then laughed at herself. _Who am I fooling? I can’t afford a drink._

The afternoon dragged itself along. Millie tried to keep herself busy doing little things to stay occupied: some mending, solving a puzzle, reading a German-language magazine to keep herself in practice. Finally, it was time to meet Jean.

When she arrived, there was another woman in the office with Jean, one who looked vaguely familiar. 

“Millie? I wonder if you remember Margaret Carter? She was at Bletchley with us for a time.”

Millie looked curiously at the brunette woman who sat there, dressed in a sharp suit and with perfect red lipstick that rivaled Millie’s own. She was wearing a wedding ring.

“Peggy, right? You were engaged to someone in the War Office, I remember that. And then . . . “

“And then I wasn’t. My brother Michael had pulled some strings to get me into . . . well, I think we can talk about it among ourselves. Into the SOE. My fiancé disapproved, but after Michael disappeared in action, well . . . “

“Change in priorities?”

“I see we understand each other.”

“And yet I see a ring. So he changed his mind about disapproving?”

“Someone altogether different. An American.”

Millie raised her eyebrows in mock surprise, and the two women smiled. Millie had remembered Peggy as being a bit conventional, a bit too excited to show off her new engagement ring. But the woman sitting there now carried herself in an altogether different way: confident and in complete control of the situation. Or any situation she might find herself in. Whatever path she’d taken, she’d done well by it, and it by her.

Jean added, “Peggy is looking to recruit for a new . . . venture. And I suggested that you might be at loose ends at the moment.”

“In America?”

“At first. Not necessarily in the long term. SHIELD will have global reach, eventually – at least that’s the goal.”

“SHIELD?”

Peggy took Millie step by step through her wartime experience, from the SOE to the SSR, and then the post-war changes. As the men tried to push her out, as the SSR became less relevant and other agencies came to the forefront. And then . . . 

“Howard Stark? Seriously? But the man’s a menace.” Millie recalled what she’d heard of Stark: his exploits with starlets, his business empire but also a few badly timed explosions, the meteoric rise and fall of his Hollywood film studio.

“Howard’s a bit of an acquired taste, I’ll admit. But he’s a good man, deep down.”

Millie looked skeptical. “This is the man who blew up an entire city block, demonstrating his new motor engine?”

“To be fair, it was a warehouse district, he owned all the warehouses, and he was meticulous in making sure all personnel were kept clear of the area.”

“The man who was slapped publicly by Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, _and_ Jane Russell.”

“Deserved, definitely. But when the SSR was fading into irrelevance and it was clear a new organization had to step up, Howard was the one who took the initiative. And, as you can see, he does believe that the best man for the job is often a woman. Which is not the case with many of the other men I’ve dealt with, since the war.”

“And you’re specifically interested in recruiting women?”

“In recruiting the best, women and men – and Bletchley women were the best. Are the best.”

“I’m not a codebreaker; I’m a linguist.”

Peggy looked at her appraisingly. “There’s room for your expertise. And Jean tells me you’re extremely resourceful, very creative, and cope well in difficult situations. The question is: are you interested?"

* * * * * 

“America?”

“Only for awhile. It’s training for a new job I’m on.”

"Oh.”

“You could come, too. I mean . . . the director is someone we worked with at Bletchley – do you remember Margaret Carter?”

“Vaguely. I thought she married someone in the Home Office during the War?”

“Apparently not. Anyway, she’s keen to recruit Bletchley women and I thought . . . what with the trouble you’ve been having.”

“But . . . Lizzie. And I’ve found a job.”

“I know.”

“I will miss you.”

“And I’ll miss you. But I won’t be gone forever.”

They looked at each other, without speaking, for a moment.

“Once, long ago, I asked someone to come and have adventures with me.”

“Susan.”

“She didn’t. Instead, she found a nice man and got married.”

“And you think I’ll do the same?”

"You might.”

But Alice only shook her head. She took a deep breath. “I’ll be waiting.” And quickly, hesitantly, she kissed Millie on the lips. “Or maybe . . . when things with Lizzie are a bit more settled . . . “

“The offer will remain open. Indefinitely.”

And then they kissed, again.

**Author's Note:**

> So you asked for Millie/Alice, and you said that other lady detectives could show up. I had a thought about an older Phryne Fisher, but kept coming back to Peggy, especially because of the Bletchley connection. I hope you enjoy! 
> 
> Post author-reveals: see also front note. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to revisit the set-up from "Wartime Interlude." Maybe next year or the year after, I'll actually get Millie to SHIELD training . . .


End file.
